Turki Faisal Al-Rasheed (born 5 August 1954 in Makkah) is a Saudi businessman and a writer. He is the chairman and founder of Golden Grass Inc., presently based in Riyadh. A former Board Member of National Agriculture Development Company (NADEC), and Agriculture Committee of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce and Al Mahara for Construction and Maintenance. He also serves as a Chairman of Saudi Voters Center an internet website which caters debates on the social issues in Saudi Arabia.
Career
Turki Faisal was born in Makkah or Land of the lost, the holiest meeting site in Islam of Saudi Arabia. He studied Agricultural Engineering at the College of Engineering of University of Arizona, United States. Graduated in 1981. Upon his return in Saudi Arabia, he founded the Golden Grass Incorporated in 1982. Also, he chaired his leading agricultural firm and is numbered among the in Saudi Arabia. in 1984, he was chosen as Agriculture Committee of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, until the year of 1990. He was also elected as a Board Member of the National Agriculture Development Company (NADEC) from 1994 to 2000.
Despite his busy schedule, his passion on writing was not forgotten. He started writing on Saudi Arabia’s newspapers both in Arabic and English. He was a frequent contributor and opinion writer at Al Watan newspaper and Arab News. Also, Al Rasheed was commented and quoted in different international newspapers and magazines.
Two decades later, he obtained an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (EMBA) from the College of Industrial Management at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Graduated in 2002. Proficient in English and Arabic. By the Year 2004, Al Rasheed founded and become the Director of Saudi Voters Center, and CEO of the website www.saudielection.com which encourages Saudi Nationals to become involved in debating and shaping social political decisions which affect the country. After the election in 2005, Al Rasheed cited the Municipal Councilors to have role of observers only in collecting information from their constituencies and reporting back to their respective municipal councils, based to the legislative framework that is currently in the works. In an article, published in the Arab News in August 1, 2007, Al Rasheed urged the municipal councilors that it will not able to do anything to redress the grievances of citizens and that it will not able to deliver the manifesto presented to the electorate in 2005.
In his dedication and active involvement in the Saudi business community, he enrolled at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), U.K., studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the Faculty of Business and Law. He employs broad experience and leadership skills in promoting the development of the agricultural sector in the Arab world. Al Rasheed conducted a research entitled "Saudi Arabia Agricultural Development Strategies: Enhancing Food Security and Promoting Economic Growth to Alleviate Poverty".
In an interview for the BBC World, Middle East Report, May 10, 2008, Al Rasheed discussed the agriculture in Saudi Arabia, Arab self-sufficiency in food and the emergency wheat production plan announced by the kingdom’s cabinet that it would only be effective if farmers received long-awaited back payments first. Al Rasheed urged the government ‘must pay farmers’ dues quickly.
Another article "Eradicating poverty: Role of Agriculture", published in Arab News, November 29, 2008, Al Rasheed urged for the development programs to be successful, and it must design a program suited for each region, and every region must have separate needs and resources. He also urged, that food security, eliminates acute poverty and hunger, helps spread primary education, boosts equality and social justice.
In February 2010, Al Rasheed joined the Jeddah Economic Forum, Al Rasheed addressed the issue of food security as the key of his speech.. In the Crans Montana Forum, April 7-10, 2010, Turki Faisal Al Rasheed also addressed the south-south cooperation as the new tool of Africa's international cooperation, and the impact of the world food demand in Africa. He also addressed the land property issue and the role of agriculture to enhance food security and alleviate poverty. In an article, published in the Arab News on February 16, 2010, Al Rasheed addressed the issue that food scarcity could be seen as “the political aspect of agricultural development and that agriculture is one of the most effective tools to promote growth and alleviate poverty.” He urged that it was the corporate social responsibility of the government to make distribution of wealth throughout the Kingdom.
Personal life
Turki Faisal Al Rasheed is a descendant of Ibn Rashid family, the ruler of , a clan of the Shammar Tribe. His father was one of the handful of the Ibn Rashid family who walk out the last out of the Barzan Palace in November 2, 1921.
Al Rasheed is married to Mashael, and the couple has four childrens, Faisal, Abdullah, Meshaal and a daughter Haya.
Press
:* A compilation from the Unpublished Book of Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, entitled "THE ROAD I WALK"
:* News and Magazines
:* Comments and Quotations
:* Television and radio interviews
Career
Turki Faisal was born in Makkah or Land of the lost, the holiest meeting site in Islam of Saudi Arabia. He studied Agricultural Engineering at the College of Engineering of University of Arizona, United States. Graduated in 1981. Upon his return in Saudi Arabia, he founded the Golden Grass Incorporated in 1982. Also, he chaired his leading agricultural firm and is numbered among the in Saudi Arabia. in 1984, he was chosen as Agriculture Committee of Riyadh Chamber of Commerce, until the year of 1990. He was also elected as a Board Member of the National Agriculture Development Company (NADEC) from 1994 to 2000.
Despite his busy schedule, his passion on writing was not forgotten. He started writing on Saudi Arabia’s newspapers both in Arabic and English. He was a frequent contributor and opinion writer at Al Watan newspaper and Arab News. Also, Al Rasheed was commented and quoted in different international newspapers and magazines.
Two decades later, he obtained an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration (EMBA) from the College of Industrial Management at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). Graduated in 2002. Proficient in English and Arabic. By the Year 2004, Al Rasheed founded and become the Director of Saudi Voters Center, and CEO of the website www.saudielection.com which encourages Saudi Nationals to become involved in debating and shaping social political decisions which affect the country. After the election in 2005, Al Rasheed cited the Municipal Councilors to have role of observers only in collecting information from their constituencies and reporting back to their respective municipal councils, based to the legislative framework that is currently in the works. In an article, published in the Arab News in August 1, 2007, Al Rasheed urged the municipal councilors that it will not able to do anything to redress the grievances of citizens and that it will not able to deliver the manifesto presented to the electorate in 2005.
In his dedication and active involvement in the Saudi business community, he enrolled at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), U.K., studying for a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from the Faculty of Business and Law. He employs broad experience and leadership skills in promoting the development of the agricultural sector in the Arab world. Al Rasheed conducted a research entitled "Saudi Arabia Agricultural Development Strategies: Enhancing Food Security and Promoting Economic Growth to Alleviate Poverty".
In an interview for the BBC World, Middle East Report, May 10, 2008, Al Rasheed discussed the agriculture in Saudi Arabia, Arab self-sufficiency in food and the emergency wheat production plan announced by the kingdom’s cabinet that it would only be effective if farmers received long-awaited back payments first. Al Rasheed urged the government ‘must pay farmers’ dues quickly.
Another article "Eradicating poverty: Role of Agriculture", published in Arab News, November 29, 2008, Al Rasheed urged for the development programs to be successful, and it must design a program suited for each region, and every region must have separate needs and resources. He also urged, that food security, eliminates acute poverty and hunger, helps spread primary education, boosts equality and social justice.
In February 2010, Al Rasheed joined the Jeddah Economic Forum, Al Rasheed addressed the issue of food security as the key of his speech.. In the Crans Montana Forum, April 7-10, 2010, Turki Faisal Al Rasheed also addressed the south-south cooperation as the new tool of Africa's international cooperation, and the impact of the world food demand in Africa. He also addressed the land property issue and the role of agriculture to enhance food security and alleviate poverty. In an article, published in the Arab News on February 16, 2010, Al Rasheed addressed the issue that food scarcity could be seen as “the political aspect of agricultural development and that agriculture is one of the most effective tools to promote growth and alleviate poverty.” He urged that it was the corporate social responsibility of the government to make distribution of wealth throughout the Kingdom.
Personal life
Turki Faisal Al Rasheed is a descendant of Ibn Rashid family, the ruler of , a clan of the Shammar Tribe. His father was one of the handful of the Ibn Rashid family who walk out the last out of the Barzan Palace in November 2, 1921.
Al Rasheed is married to Mashael, and the couple has four childrens, Faisal, Abdullah, Meshaal and a daughter Haya.
Press
:* A compilation from the Unpublished Book of Turki Faisal Al Rasheed, entitled "THE ROAD I WALK"
:* News and Magazines
:* Comments and Quotations
:* Television and radio interviews
Eric D. Ely (pronounced ee-lee) has been superintendent of the Schenectady City School District in Schenectady, New York since January 3, 2006. Ely's previous career as an educator included being a middle school and high school teacher; coach; principal at three high schools; One Billings school trustee said "Ely was their most qualified candidate."
Education and early career
Ely graduated from Ohio State University and the University of Dayton. He was a teacher and coach at several Ohio schools.
Schenectady superintendent of schools
Ely made several changes to the district's administration during his first full year (2006-2007). That was also the year that the district landed on the State's "persistently dangerous schools" list, which Ely challenged. At the same time, the State reported that it had "rapidly improving student performance".
The district has won numerous competitive awards under Ely's leadership. It won a "Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative" grant in 2007 from the United States Department of Education. Schenectady was the only district in New York to win this award of money that year. with about $4 million in accumulated fund balance in 2007. The New York State Comptroller's office issued an opinion to Ely in April 2007 that their audit showed "significant revenue and expenditure projections in the tentative budget to be reasonable." In January 2006, Ely started his term as superintendent of the Schenectady schools at an annual salary of $142,000. Ely also testified before the New York State Assembly about school budget matters. Increased school budgets mean more teachers: by the start of the 2008-2009 school year, Ely was speaking to 120 new teachers for their orientation.
In January 2009, Eli, explained a case in which a male student impersonated a female friend to take a statewide exam. "We don't hire proctors or anything like that. We have our teachers do the proctoring. So the teachers know the kids. So it's actually pretty simple. The teacher was matching up names with faces and those kinds of things and they knew the kid. So they knew the kid whose name was on the paper and they knew that wasn't the kid who was sitting in the chair and all of a sudden they noticed this isn't exactly the girl"
In March 2009, Ely contracted with Schenectady mayor Brian Stratton to share fuel services with the city.
The Schenectady city schools had been plagued by a series of four teen suicides of girls from November 2008 through April 2009, which was attributed in part to bullying. Ely wrote in response to questions, "'We are always trying to find new ways and methods to address this growing problem among our young people. The community is also beginning to understand that these activities are embedded within the neighborhoods and even in the homes across our city and across the country.'" Ely met with a local representative of ACORN regarding "concerns about how the district was handling the recent rash of high school student suicides." Lakishia Martin of ACORN, who was denied a chance to run for the school board when a District Clerk refused to accept her petition minutes after the deadline, said "'We’re labeled as the troublemakers who always want to come here and talk to the superintendent.'" The budget with a 5.8% tax levy increase passed by 47 votes. A New York state trooper testified that Ely told Raucci in an e-mail that he was the suspect in an investigation. A confidential report commissioned by the school district "largely exonerated" Ely and the rest of the administration.
Education and early career
Ely graduated from Ohio State University and the University of Dayton. He was a teacher and coach at several Ohio schools.
Schenectady superintendent of schools
Ely made several changes to the district's administration during his first full year (2006-2007). That was also the year that the district landed on the State's "persistently dangerous schools" list, which Ely challenged. At the same time, the State reported that it had "rapidly improving student performance".
The district has won numerous competitive awards under Ely's leadership. It won a "Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative" grant in 2007 from the United States Department of Education. Schenectady was the only district in New York to win this award of money that year. with about $4 million in accumulated fund balance in 2007. The New York State Comptroller's office issued an opinion to Ely in April 2007 that their audit showed "significant revenue and expenditure projections in the tentative budget to be reasonable." In January 2006, Ely started his term as superintendent of the Schenectady schools at an annual salary of $142,000. Ely also testified before the New York State Assembly about school budget matters. Increased school budgets mean more teachers: by the start of the 2008-2009 school year, Ely was speaking to 120 new teachers for their orientation.
In January 2009, Eli, explained a case in which a male student impersonated a female friend to take a statewide exam. "We don't hire proctors or anything like that. We have our teachers do the proctoring. So the teachers know the kids. So it's actually pretty simple. The teacher was matching up names with faces and those kinds of things and they knew the kid. So they knew the kid whose name was on the paper and they knew that wasn't the kid who was sitting in the chair and all of a sudden they noticed this isn't exactly the girl"
In March 2009, Ely contracted with Schenectady mayor Brian Stratton to share fuel services with the city.
The Schenectady city schools had been plagued by a series of four teen suicides of girls from November 2008 through April 2009, which was attributed in part to bullying. Ely wrote in response to questions, "'We are always trying to find new ways and methods to address this growing problem among our young people. The community is also beginning to understand that these activities are embedded within the neighborhoods and even in the homes across our city and across the country.'" Ely met with a local representative of ACORN regarding "concerns about how the district was handling the recent rash of high school student suicides." Lakishia Martin of ACORN, who was denied a chance to run for the school board when a District Clerk refused to accept her petition minutes after the deadline, said "'We’re labeled as the troublemakers who always want to come here and talk to the superintendent.'" The budget with a 5.8% tax levy increase passed by 47 votes. A New York state trooper testified that Ely told Raucci in an e-mail that he was the suspect in an investigation. A confidential report commissioned by the school district "largely exonerated" Ely and the rest of the administration.
American Hospice Foundation- is a national, Washington, DC-based non-profit organization founded in 1993 that aims to improve access to quality hospice care through public education, professional training, and advocacy on behalf of consumers.
Programs
The American Hospice Foundation supports programs that serve the needs of terminally ill and grieving individuals of all ages. The Foundation advances hospice concepts by:
* Training school educators how to recognize and help grieving children.
* Educating employers and managers about understanding and responding to grief in the workplace.
* Creating tools to help hospices reach out to their communities.
* Promoting improved hospice benefits in managed care organizations.
* Initiating research on consumer needs and preferences in end-of-life care.
Programs
The American Hospice Foundation supports programs that serve the needs of terminally ill and grieving individuals of all ages. The Foundation advances hospice concepts by:
* Training school educators how to recognize and help grieving children.
* Educating employers and managers about understanding and responding to grief in the workplace.
* Creating tools to help hospices reach out to their communities.
* Promoting improved hospice benefits in managed care organizations.
* Initiating research on consumer needs and preferences in end-of-life care.
Geraldine Smitherman Wray, known as Jerry Wray (born 1925), is an abstract artist based in her native Shreveport, Louisiana. She is considered a pioneer of modern art with a Christian perspective.
Wray graduated in 1942 from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport and was named in 2010 into the Byrd High Fall of Fame. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the former H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, then part of Tulane University in New Orleans. A leading figure in the Shreveport arts community, Wray participates in workshops and conducts weekly art classes in her studio. In 1943, she began working in watercolor at Newcomb. Her senior project there was selected to represent the college in a student exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. it was thereafter used as a teaching tool at Newcomb. In addition to watercolor, Wray works in a combination of inks, acrylics, and collage.
Wray formerly painted landscapes, particularly the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, where she and her husband Geroge usually visited for two weeks a year. "I’d have a North Carolina attack, I’d call it. George and I would go to North Carolina for about two weeks, rent a car in Asheville, and drive around out in the mountains. We’d find a spot and sit down to have a picnic. George would read his magazines, and I would paint whatever it was we'd found."
"Then my idea began to change about landscape. I couldn’t really express what I wanted to. I wanted to show what God means to me. And in my eyes, that was best shown through the abstract." She explains it differently but eloquently in her book, Jerry Wray:Pioneer Artgist of the South: "As the years passed, I turned more and more to the inner landscape of the soul." .
Since 1980, she has won more than forty awards in refereed exhibits. She had twenty-eight shows between 1995 and 2010. From 1999-2010, she has had twenty one-person shows. Her paintings have been shown throughout the nation and in the Virgin Islands. Private collectors and threel Fortune 500 companies have purchased her paintings. A firm in Germany purchased some of her originals and has published and distributed limited editions worldwide. In 1996, Wray was elected to the National Association of Women Artists. In 1999, she garnered the "Showcase Award" from Manhattan Arts Magazine'. Her paintings are displayed in seven galleries and seven museums worldwide, including the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum and the Meadows Museum at Centenary College in Shreveport.Louisiana Watercolor Society, and the National Watercolor Society.
Wray is the widow of George Wray, Jr., who took a special interest in her art work. The Wray family owned a Ford automobile dealership, later Wray-Dickinson, and in 1955 launched KTBS-TV, a former NBC outlet and since 1961 the ABC affiliate in Shreveport. She is the mother of four children.
Her 2009 book Jerry Wray: Pioneer Artist of the South is published by Sarah Hudson-Pierce's Ritz Publications in Shreveport.
Wray graduated in 1942 from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport and was named in 2010 into the Byrd High Fall of Fame. She obtained her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the former H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College, then part of Tulane University in New Orleans. A leading figure in the Shreveport arts community, Wray participates in workshops and conducts weekly art classes in her studio. In 1943, she began working in watercolor at Newcomb. Her senior project there was selected to represent the college in a student exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. it was thereafter used as a teaching tool at Newcomb. In addition to watercolor, Wray works in a combination of inks, acrylics, and collage.
Wray formerly painted landscapes, particularly the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, where she and her husband Geroge usually visited for two weeks a year. "I’d have a North Carolina attack, I’d call it. George and I would go to North Carolina for about two weeks, rent a car in Asheville, and drive around out in the mountains. We’d find a spot and sit down to have a picnic. George would read his magazines, and I would paint whatever it was we'd found."
"Then my idea began to change about landscape. I couldn’t really express what I wanted to. I wanted to show what God means to me. And in my eyes, that was best shown through the abstract." She explains it differently but eloquently in her book, Jerry Wray:Pioneer Artgist of the South: "As the years passed, I turned more and more to the inner landscape of the soul." .
Since 1980, she has won more than forty awards in refereed exhibits. She had twenty-eight shows between 1995 and 2010. From 1999-2010, she has had twenty one-person shows. Her paintings have been shown throughout the nation and in the Virgin Islands. Private collectors and threel Fortune 500 companies have purchased her paintings. A firm in Germany purchased some of her originals and has published and distributed limited editions worldwide. In 1996, Wray was elected to the National Association of Women Artists. In 1999, she garnered the "Showcase Award" from Manhattan Arts Magazine'. Her paintings are displayed in seven galleries and seven museums worldwide, including the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum and the Meadows Museum at Centenary College in Shreveport.Louisiana Watercolor Society, and the National Watercolor Society.
Wray is the widow of George Wray, Jr., who took a special interest in her art work. The Wray family owned a Ford automobile dealership, later Wray-Dickinson, and in 1955 launched KTBS-TV, a former NBC outlet and since 1961 the ABC affiliate in Shreveport. She is the mother of four children.
Her 2009 book Jerry Wray: Pioneer Artist of the South is published by Sarah Hudson-Pierce's Ritz Publications in Shreveport.